Nurse suspended for snooping into patient records

VICTORIA – A BC nurse has been suspended for snooping on medical records she had no right to. According to a July 6 BC College of Nurses and Midwives decision, Jacqueline Bureau has been suspended for six weeks for accessing the electronic health records of eight individuals who weren’t in her care.

The registered nurse then shared the information of one patient with a third party. The regulator says Bureau looked into the confidential medical records between June 2020 and April 2022.

“Further, (Bureau) was not honest with her employer when initially confronted about her unauthorized access of client records,” the decision reads.

The College’s website shows that Bureau works at Bayshore Health in Victoria. Bureau is the fifth BC nurse this year to have been disciplined for sneaking a look at medical records they shouldn’t have.

In 2022, seven nurses across the province were sanctioned for accessing private medical records and received punishments from a suspension of a few days to six months.

Last December, BC’s privacy commissioner said individuals’ personal health information was “disturbingly” vulnerable.

Bureau signed a consent agreement admitting to her conduct and along with a six-week suspension took an undertaking not to repeat her behaviour. The regulator says it’s satisfied that the terms will protect the public.